As made public in the article Duke Energy Plans to Build a Massive Natural Gas Power Plant in Davidson County. But Where, Exactly? by Lisa Sorg in Inside Climate News, Duke Energy has been quietly planning to locate its fourth, and possibly even its fifth, massive methane gas combustion power plant at a mysterious location in Davidson County, possibly right on the Yadkin River. Shelley Robbins, Senior Decarbonization Manager at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and a Davidson County native, offered the following statement:
“After the furniture industry left and decimated employment, this county has rebuilt itself, embracing the Yadkin River for recreation and even discovering that it is the perfect place for growing grapes and becoming part of North Carolina’s winery and agri-tourism industry. The last thing it needs now is ugly, dirty gas plants and possibly even an LNG facility, displacing forests and farmlands and polluting the air and water. In addition to threatening delicate grapes, grains, and other crops, a major methane gas combustion operation could also push the county into air quality non-attainment, further threatening its ability to grow its employment base by limiting how new industries can operate. The potential impact on the Yadkin River is also alarming.
Duke is already in the process of building two large gas plants in Person County next to its increasingly unreliable coal plants. It is seeking approval for a third massive plant down I-85 in South Carolina. We do not need a fourth, much less a fifth, dirty combustion plant plus LNG in Davidson County, threatening farmers, fishermen, and real economic development.
Duke hasn’t even received approval from the NC Utilities Commission to begin planning for a fourth and fifth plant, but they have been quietly assessing the cost to their transmission system to build here. We are so early in the process that citizens, farmers, businesses, and leaders can tell Duke and the Utilities Commission to stop looking at Davidson County for this unnecessary, dirty methane gas combustion complex.”
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About the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Since 1985, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has worked to promote responsible and equitable energy choices to ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Learn more at cleanenergy.org.
